News

Bloomz at the Hortifair 2006

  

BOP Times article by: Val Sherriff,

MOUTHWATERING names and stunning flower colours have paid off for Tauranga firm Bloomz which won accolades from the world of commercial flower growers in Amsterdam this month. Bloomz managing director Andy Warren said the International Hortifair held at the RAI, Amsterdam rewarded his firm in two ways.
`”Hot Chocolate won the Interpolis Cup in the Zantedeschia Quality competition with a score of 9.5. Anything above nine is good, 9.5 is excellent.''
Bloomz bred Hot Chocolate about five years ago and this is the third time in four years that Hot Chocolate has taken a prize at the four day long annual show.
``The other thing we won is a gold medal for our Bloomz company stand at the fair.''
Mr Warren said the flower breeding success and launching a new product into the market place of was a joint operation by staff at Bloomz.
``from breeding right through to marketing and sales,'' Mr Warren said. ``So it's not just a matter of making a new mouse trap. It's a question of letting people know it exists, demonstrating that it works and people getting value for their money.''
Breeder Jaap Spaans who began at the company in 1998 works with the Zantedeschia (calla) gene pool that Mr Warren set up.
Hot Cherry is a new bloom and Mr Warren said it was received with tremendous acclaim at the show and is now being trialled all over the world.
``We've currently got trials running in Mexico, Ecuador, Poland, Holland, Japan and the United States,'' he said.
New hybrids went through a testing process that lasted about two to three years for any bugs to be ironed out.
``We get some new varieties that are fantastic but the motor doesn't work or you get mutations and other problems. That's why you've got to test them so make sure they do what you say they'll do,'' Mr Warren said.
He believed part of the success of Hot Chocolate in fact all of the hot series which began in 1994 with a vibrant orange called Hotshot, was due partly to the name.
``People just love the words,'' he said.
The operation worked on direct personal contact as well as by phone, web-cam and internet with people overseas and was the preferred way Mr Warren did business.
The other key thing was that although Bloomz was a breeder it had a very close interface with flower auctions in Holland.
``To make sure the product we're producing is accepted and required by the customers at the other end. So although we're not flower exporters we're doing a huge amount of work now to make sure the product is exactly what the customer wants.''
Bloomz exported bulbs and tubers and tissue culture to markets overseas and was established by Mr Warren 24 years ago.
``Part of that process is going to the Hortifair and winning a few prizes and that's part of our marketing process. You get a few gongs and when, for example you win with Hot Chocolate three years out of four it starts to say something about the company so that when you're putting in your next release there is interest.''
Mr Warren said the International Hortifair was the largest of the international commercial flower shows and was now combined with what was the NTV show - the greenhouse equipment show. ``Everything to do with irrigation, greenhouses and controls is there as well.''
All of the world's flower growing countries had growers and representatives at the show ``from Hungary to China, from Italy to Ethiopia, from France to Kenya to Brazil to Israel to Chile to Ecuador to from all over the place.